The account of a remarkable vision granted to the apostle, vs. 1–6. The other evidences of his apostleship, and his conduct and purposes in the exercise of his office, vs. 7–21.
Paul’s revelations and visions
HE would give over boasting, and refer not to what he had done, but to what God had done; not to scenes in which he was the agent, but to those in which he was merely the subject—to revelations and visions. He had been caught up to the third heavens, and received communications and revelations which he was not permitted to make known. This was to him, and to all who believed his word, a more reliable evidence of the favour of God to him as an apostle than any thing he had yet mentioned, vs. 1–6. With this extraordinary proof of the divine favour there was given him some painful bodily affection, from which he could not be delivered, in order to keep him duly humble, vs. 7–10. This reference to his personal experience was exceedingly painful to him. He had been forced by their unreasonable opposition to speak of himself as he had done; for the external signs of his apostleship should have convinced them that he was the immediate messenger of Christ, vs. 11–12. They themselves were a standing proof that he was truly an apostle. They were not less richly endowed than other churches founded by other apostles. If inferior at all, it was only that he had refused to be supported by them. This he could not help. He was determined to pursue in the future the course in that matter which he had hitherto adopted; neither by himself nor by others, neither mediately nor immediately, would he receive any thing at their hands, vs. 13–18. All this self-vindication was of little account. It was a small matter what they thought of him. God is the only competent and final judge. His fear was that when he reached Corinth he would be forced to appear as a judge; that not finding them what he desired them to be, he should be obliged to assume the aspect of a reprover, vs. 19–21.
- It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
The authorities differ much as to the text in this verse. The common text has δή (indeed, doubtless) with few MSS. or versions in its support. Many of the oldest MSS. read δεῖ, it is necessary; some few δέ, which is adopted by Meyer as the original reading. The difference is only as to the shades of the thought. The idea is that boasting is not expedient; he will pass to something else, or at least to things which implied no agency or superior power on his part. Is not expedient. Here again some MSS. read with the common text, οὐ συμφέρει μοι, ἐλεύσομαι γάρ, (is not expedient for me, for I will come;) others with Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Rückert, οὐ συμφέρον μὲν, ἐλεύσομαι δέ, (it is not expedient indeed, but I will come.) The common text is on the whole to be preferred. Boasting, the apostle says, is not expedient for me, either in the sense that it does not become me, is not a seemly or proper thing; or, is not profitable; does not contribute to set my apostleship in a clear light. There is a better way of proving my divine mission than by boasting. The former explanation is better suited to the apostle’s mode of representation. He had repeatedly spoken of boasting as a kind of folly, something derogatory and painful. He expresses the same feeling here when he says it is not expedient. I will come. Our translators omit the γάρ, for I will come. The connection is with a thought omitted. Boasting is not expedient, (therefore I desist,) for I will pass to something else. What follows in the relation of the revelations made to him, was no self-laudation, but a recital of God’s goodness. Visions and revelations. The latter term is, on the one hand, more general than the former, as there might be revelations where there were no visions; and, on the other, the latter is higher than the former, as implying a disclosure of the import of the things seen. Of the Lord; not visions of which the Lord was the object; it was not seeing the Lord that he here speaks of, but visions and revelations of which the Lord is the author. By Lord is obviously to be understood Christ, whose continued existence and divine power over the thoughts and states of the soul is hereby recognized.
- I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
He speaks of himself in the third person, “I knew a man.” Why he does this is not clear. He narrates what had happened as though he had been a spectator of the scene, perhaps because his own activity was so completely in abeyance. A man in Christ; a man who was in Christ; the scriptural designation of a Christian, because union with Christ makes a man a Christian. It is the one only indispensable condition of salvation; so that all who are in Christ are saved, and all who are out of Christ perish. It is also the plain doctrine of the Bible that, so far as adults are concerned, this saving union with Christ is conditioned, not on any thing external, not on union with this or that external church, but on a personal appropriating act of faith, by which we receive and rest on Christ alone for salvation. And still further, it is no less clearly taught that holiness of heart and life is the certain fruit and therefore the only satisfactory evidence of the genuineness of that faith. Above fourteen years ago. The event referred to in this verse is not the same as that which occurred at the time of Paul’s conversion. That was a vision of Christ to the apostle here on earth, this was a translation of the apostle into heaven; that occurred twenty years before the probable date of this epistle. So that the two agree neither in nature, nor in the time of their occurrence. Whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. The point as to which Paul was in doubt, was not the nature of the event, not as to whether it was a mere exaltation of his consciousness and perceptions or a real translation, but simply whether that translation was of the soul separated from the body, or of the body and soul together. Though heaven is a state, it is also a place. According to the scriptural representation, more is necessary to our introduction into heaven than merely opening the eyes to what is now about us and around us. The glorified body of our Lord is somewhere, and not everywhere. Such an one caught up; ἁρπαγέντα‚ carried away, the proper term to express a removal from one place to another without the agency of the subject. Paul was entirely passive in the translation of which he here speaks. Comp. Acts 8:39; 1 Thess. 4:17, “Caught up to meet the Lord in the air.” To the third heaven. This means either the highest heavens; or, on the assumption that Paul used the language and intended to conform to the ideas of the Rabbins who taught that there were seven heavens, it means the air, the region of the clouds. He was caught up into the air, and then still further raised to Paradise. The former explanation is to be preferred, 1. Because there is no evidence that the opinions of the Jewish writers, whose works are still extant, were prevalent at the time of the apostle. 2. Because there is no evidence in the New Testament that the sacred writers adopted those opinions. 3. Because if Paul believed and taught that there were seven heavens, that is, if he sanctioned the Rabbinical doctrine on that subject, it would be a part of Christian doctrine, which it is not. It is no part of the faith of the Christian church. 4. Because it is plain that the “third heaven” and “paradise” are synonymous terms; and paradise, as is admitted, at least by those who suppose that Paul here speaks as a Jew, means heaven.